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Andy’s Rating |
Kate’s Rating |
| One Man Lord Of The Rings |
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| Exactly what it says on the tin – from the creator of One
Man Star Wars comes a take on Lord Of The Rings, and while I imagine Star
Wars (a mostly dialogue driven trilogy) was impressive; the Lord Of The
Rings (a scenery driven film) lacked something. There was a lot of him
humming and trying to illustrate vast expanses of land by flapping his
arms. Now don’t get me wrong the whole thing was very impressive, and
some moments of comedy gold lay within, however less humming and flapping
and more comedy moments would have been even more enjoyable. |
| John Hegley |
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| A true poetic legend, if you have never read any of John
Hegley’s poetry then you really are missing out; and hearing the great
man himself reading these sincere peeks into the history of his family,
along with his own comic style of performing was a great experience (including
playing ukulele on a violin). |
| Iago |
   
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| My highlight of the festival which is really odd considering
the company is from Bristol,
however, this one man take on Othello opened my eyes to what can be done
with Shakespeare. The complete story of Othello as seen through the eyes
of Iago, as he wrestled over whether or not he was guilty. I really would
recommend this if you get the opportunity to see it. |
| Jon Richardson |
 
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| A comic walkthrough of the life of a perfectionist and how
striving for perfection can systematically destroy everything. |
| Bongo Cabaret |
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| Well ... what can I say; allow me to summarise, two poor
comedians, two ropey burlesque dancers, one terrifying gay man, and an
average sketch comedy trio – please avoid! |
| Your Numbers Up |
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| Youth theatre as it attempts to be both edgy and funny and
barely manages either. An hour of character development follwed by the
end. |
| After The Bomb |
 
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| A truly bizarre trip into the mind of a communist regime;
very funny, especially some of the briliant dialogue between communist
spies. |
| Paul Mertons Improv Chums |
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| Paul Merton brings improvised
comedy gold to the pleasance theatre, including wrestling on a bus, film
genre rotation on a cruise ship and going up mount everest with your mother
in law. |
| Rebecca |
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| Terry Pratchett’s Lords & Ladies |
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| Am Dram – nothing else to be said. |
| Rap Guide To Evolution |
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| Now this is actually what it says - believe it or not. Baba
Brinkman brings evolution to life through hip hop, well worth checking
out, you can't believe it until you see
it. |
| Cardinio |
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| The lost play of Shakespeare (or an interpretation thereof)
brought to life. This lost play was brilliantly executed with a very physical
performance, including one poor actor who refused to go to hospital with
a broken elbow until he had completed his performance. |
| East |
   
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| Sound & Fury’s: Sherlock Holmes & The Saline Solution |
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| Slapstick spoof humour over the detective genre by three
American's know as Sound & Fury. This farcical comedy while not brilliant
was certainly an entertaining evening, and had everyone in fits of laughter. |
| The origin of species by means of natural selection or the survival
of [r]evolutionary theories in the face of scientific and ecclesiastical
objections: being a musical comedy about Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882) |
  
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| This musical captures the imagination as the writer/performer/Darwin
welcomes everyone to his study and sings various songs about the journey
to the galapagos and his theories on evolution, as well as marrying his
cousin. This is pure brilliance, check it out - this is an Andy recommendation! |
| Out Of Chaos |
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| Dylan Thomas: Return Journey |
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| Segments of the life of Dylan Thomas from his own eyes through
his poems (told by Bob Kingdom). Bob tells the tales with such emotion
(and memory) that the audience remained captivated, a personal highlight
was the complete telling of The Outing a great story, told so well. |
| Adam Hills: Inflatable |
  
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| If you want to feel like the world isn’t so bad after all
then go and see Adam Hills, definitely the best comedian at the festival. |
| Alun Cochrane: Daydreamer |
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| Quite literally Alun Cochrane's stream of consciousness spilling
fourth, I'm not sure of how long he's been doing stand up but he seemed
unsure of the crowd, constantly telling the back row it was their fault
it wan't funny. His observations on life with kids are absolutely hilarious
and as long as you can keep up with his daydreaming, then you're on for
an enjoyable evening. |
| Rich Hall’s Campfire Stories |
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| News Revue |
 
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| The years' news in comedy form, while some of the sketches
were funny, and the songs - including financial easing (sexual healing)
by Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling were hilarious, a lot of the jokes
were quite obvious like a re-animated Michael Jackson. However I would
still recomend going to see it if you're in the area. |
| Rhod Gilbert |
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| Angry, Angry, Angry – Now a lot of comedians get aggressive
at various trials of life; but I’ve never seen an entire show made up
of issues with washing machines / vacuum cleaners. This does not detract
from the ability Rhod Gilbert has with his LOUD comic storytelling, well
worth checking him out. |
| Purple Ronnie’s Stand Up Poetry |
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| One Night Only – 1 o’ clock in the morning, and we’re watching
Phil Jupitus amongst others reading their own poetry. While Jupitus was
a bit rusty at the poetry, others including Luke Wright were very good. |
| Pythonesque |
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| The story of the Python crew told by Graham Chapman upon
his arrival at the pearly gates. Python sketches are used to illustrate
key moments in the teams growth, to great success, and the actor to play
John Cleese is absolutely spot on along with the rest of the cast who
all carry off their comic personas perfectly. The Perfectly Healthy Budgie
Skectch (for legal reasons) is one of many moments of genius. |
| Comedy Bitch |
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| Touted as soon to hit your TV screens any audience can see
why, some of the sketches were out and out sketch show genius, including
the sitcom house, sock puppet ex-boyfriend and grown up 5 year old. Keep
an eye out for this group on your screens before long. |
| Stewart Lee |
 
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| The established humour and sustained rants of Stewart Lee
mean you will never be dissapointed, however the long long pauses seem
to greatly punctuate his performance leaving you wishing that he would
get to the point just that bit sooner, especially if you saw it coming
2 minutes ago. |
| Rich Hall |
  
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